Christina Won: 28 Branches, One City

Christina Won shares about her journey to visit all the libraries in San Francisco.

I recently completed a long-held quest: visiting all 28 library branches in San Francisco. I collected a bookmark from every location—from the stately Anza to cozy Western Addition—and framed them all as a map of my favorite spots in the city. The first step of that journey was the quiet, unassuming Merced Branch, a short walk from my childhood home.

My earliest memories are Saturdays at Merced: carrying toppling stacks of books over to the checkout desk, making seasonal crafts with pipe cleaners and toilet paper rolls, and sitting on the rainbow rug for every story time.

When I was growing up, my mother didn’t speak much English. My brother and I would sit on her lap, mesmerized by the library books that none of us could actually read, as she conjured up stories for us in Korean, translating the illustrations with her imagination.

One day, the librarian gave us a tip: “Take the M and go to the Main Library downtown. The children’s room has picture books written in Korean.” That discovery was a revelation. The city saw us, strangers in an English-speaking land, and welcomed us in.

From my first job at 14 shelving books at Main to my current career in corporate storytelling, the San Francisco libraries have been my north star. I’ve spent my life in these stacks – as a wide-eyed child, a proud teenage employee, a volunteer tutor. I’m now a voracious reader and an aunt whose energetic nephews can be stilled by opening a book together. I left San Francisco for years but returning home brought me back to the place where I first discovered my love of stories.

Through these moments, I’ve come to realize that storytelling is our most transformative force. It carried my mother across a language barrier, it fueled my professional drive and passion, and it transformed 28 scattered buildings into a city that once again feels like home. With a Perspective, I’m Christina Won.

Christina Won is a reader and storyteller based in San Francisco.